ANGELA BROWN BURKE FILLS SEAT VACATED BY FORMER PRIME MINISTER PORTIA SIMPSON MILLER!

Jovan Johnson, Staff Reporter

Outsider Angela Brown Burke has won the race to become the People’s National Party (PNP’s) candidate for St Andrew South Western.

A victorious Angela Brown Burke

She polled 595 votes to defeat Audrey Smith Facey who got 502 in today’s selection conference.

The vote was called by the party’s executive after controversy erupted over the replacement process.

General Secretary, Julian Robinson, who announced the results, said 1,105 delegates voted.

There were eight spoilt ballots.

Some 1,894 delegates were eligible to vote.

Portia Simpson Miller cast her vote

Brown Burke is the councilor for the Norman Gardens Division which falls in the Kingston Eastern and Port Royal constituency.

Smith Facey, meanwhile, is the local government representative for the Payne Land Division in St Andrew South Western.

She has said she thought Simpson Miller was ‘grooming’ her to take over.

The polls opened on time at 10 o’clock and closed at the scheduled 4 p.m cut off time.

Audrey Smith Facey lost out to Brown Burke

The selection exercise was generally smooth disturbed briefly by concerns about voter’s without identification or those with errors in the spelling of their names as well as verbal clashes between the supporters.

Deputy General Secretary Wensworth Skeffrey said the discrepancy issues were resolved “smoothly” through the appeal committee.

There’s a view that the representative who is likely to win the upcoming by-election will be crucial to the camps in the PNP focusing on who will replace president Dr Peter Phillips when he demits office.